Love, Cyrus
by skyevolt
Summary: Slightly inspired by "Love, Simon," this love story sends Cyrus through an emotional rollercoaster as he, Andi and Buffy try to figure out who his secret admirer is - while also dealing with a relentless bully.
1. Kippen vs Kippen

**Thursday After School. At The Spoon Diner.**

"Isn't it nice to be here just the three of us?" Andi asks as she squeezes into their booth at The Spoon Diner.

"Yeah, no unfriendly people like Amber," Buffy says looking at Andi. She then looks at Cyrus and adds, "Or TJ!"

"Sorry about bringing TJ last time," Cyrus apologizes. "So, baby taters, am I right?" Cyrus says to change the subject. He doesn't want anything to ruin his good mood. He's jubilant about something. Something special. He's got a secret admirer.

A few days ago, he started getting cute messages from someone on his FacePage account. He doesn't know who it is. All he knows is that it's a boy who goes to Jefferson Middle School. The secret admirer has refused to reveal himself even to Cyrus because he is afraid of what people will think of him should the word come out. Cyrus understands because he knows how difficult coming out can be.

Cyrus has been contemplating on whether to tell Andi and Buffy about the secret admirer. But they're so protective of him. They might be worried that he would get hurt by opening up to some anonymous account. So, he is choosing to keep it a secret for now.

Suddenly, the doorbell at The Spoon rings and TJ walks in.

"You invited TJ?" Andi asks Cyrus. "Again?"

"I didn't," Cyrus says, showing that he's just as surprised as they are. "And why did you assume that I'm the one who invited him?" Both Andi and Buffy look at Cyrus.

"I can't believe you invited TJ," Buffy says. "Why would you invite TJ?"

"But I didn't invite him," Cyrus repeats.

"Then who did? He must have known you'd be here somehow."

"No, seriously. I didn't. Let me go see why he's here," Cyrus gets up to go talk to TJ.

Cyrus approaches TJ and says, "Hey, Not-So-Scary Basketball Guy!"

"Hey Underdog," TJ responds.

"What are you doing here?" Cyrus asks. "Did I accidentally butt dial you? I'm gonna have some serious talk with my butt."

"First of all, that's weird," TJ says. "Like seriously, never say that in front of people. Secondly, I'm not here for you."

"You're not?" Cyrus asks.

"Contrary to popular belief, the world doesn't revolve around you," TJ jokes then continues. "I'm here with my brother."

"I would say you can join us but Buffy and Andi would kill me."

"It's fine. I will see you later," TJ says.

Cyrus awkwardly waves goodbye to TJ but decides not to go straight to the booth. Instead, he goes to the kitchen to check on the baby taters they had ordered earlier.

"Hey Amber," Cyrus says to Amber.

"You know, most customers just wait at the table," Amber says. "What can I do for you, Cyrus?"

"Actually, I..." Cyrus begins but then he's suddenly ambushed and knocked down to the floor. He looks up and sees this strong boy staring down at him. He thinks he saw him somewhere but can't remember where.

Cyrus dusts himself up and Amber helps him get back up. "That was rude," he complains.

"Kip, why would you do that?" Amber asks the boy as he walks away.

"You know that jerk?" asks Cyrus.

"Yes, unfortunately. He used to be my friend. We go to Grant together."

"What's his deal?"

"He's just mad because I refused to go out with him," Amber explains. "When I was dating Jonah, he would constantly make fun of Jonah for being in middle school. He will do anything to get in my pants."

"Why would anyone want to get in your pants?"

"It's an expression."

"An expression meaning..."

"Cyrus!" Amber shouts causing all the others in the room to look at her. She then softly says to Cyrus, "we're not discussing that over here." She clears her throat then continues, "point is, I can't date him. He's not my type."

"Because he's a jerk."

"And I already have my eyes on someone else."

"Whoever it is, he's a lucky guy."

"Who said it's a he?" Amber asks. Cyrus understands what she means but doesn't say anything. Amber then continues, "Anywho, on a totally unrelated note, is Andi mad at me for not bringing your baby taters in time?"

"Nah," Cyrus shakes his head. "Andi is fine."

"The finest," Amber adds. "She's so sweet and so cute and I wish I could give her the world."

"What?"

"What?" Amber asks to confuse Cyrus and then gives him a basket of baby taters to take back to their booth.

On his way back to the booth, Cyrus hears TJ calling, "Cyrus!" He goes back to where TJ is seated only to find Kip sitting there with him. "There's someone I would like you to meet," says TJ.

Seated next to TJ is Kip. The jerk who just shoved Cyrus back in the kitchen. He can't possibly be TJ's brother, Cyrus hopes.

"Cyrus, I'd like you to meet my brother, Kip," says TJ. Cyrus doesn't know what to say.

"This is your brother?" Cyrus asks in shock.

"Oh we already met," Kip says. "Back in the kitchen. He was flirting with Amber."

"What?" Cyrus wonders what Kip is trying to insinuate. "No... Amber and I are just friends."

"Really?" Kip asks.

"Wait, is that why you shoved me?" Cyrus asks.

"You shoved him?" TJ asks. "Kip, you can't use violence to solve everything."

"Shut up, Kippen." Kip tells his brother.

"Hold on, you were jealous of me?" Cyrus wonders. "Why would you think...?"

"Because Amber seems to like younger boys," Kip explains. "I mean she dated that space ferrets boy."

"It's Space Otters. And his name is Jonah Beck," Cyrus says confidently.

"Whatever," Kip says. "Any chance you could set me up with her?"

"I don't know. Amber is like..."

"She is really hot," interrupts Kip. "And I'm the hottest guy at Grant. So, it just makes sense."

"Sorry, I can't," Cyrus politely declines the request.

"Then I'm going to take away your baby taters," Kip says as he quickly grabs the basket of baby taters from Cyrus.

"Stop it, Kip!" TJ tries to stop his brother.

"Make me!" Kip dares TJ. TJ then forcefully takes away the baby taters' basket. Kip retaliates by pulling TJ's chair, making him to fall on the ground. He then jumps over TJ and they start wrestling. The Kippen boys cause everyone to stare.

"This is why I don't like hanging out with you anymore," TJ says. "You know -" TJ begins but is interrupted by a punch to the nose. He starts bleeding.

"You're bleeding already?" Kip mocks his little brother. "Whatever happened to you, TJ? You used to be somebody.

"Leave!" Buffy orders in a commanding voice.

Kip looks at Buffy and realizes that she means business. He gets up and starts leaving. "Whatever," says Kip as he slams the door on his way out.

"You too, TJ," Buffy orders.

"But Kip started it," Cyrus defends TJ.

"Classic TJ," Buffy complains. "You never want to take responsibility for anything. And now you're fighting over baby taters?"

"That's not what I was fighting for," TJ says and then looks at Cyrus. They lock eyes. He wipes the blood from his top lip and then walks out.

While everyone else at The Spoon takes back their seats, Cyrus is left staring at the window as he watches TJ walk away in pain. He then quietly walks back to the booth.


	2. Secret Admirer

**On the street. Half an hour later.**

On their way from the diner, The Good Hair Crew are quiet for a while.

"Okay, but did you guys see that?" Cyrus breaks the silence.

"The fight?" asks Andi. "Everybody saw it. The whole diner was talking about it."

"I'm surprised they didn't even call the cops," Buffy adds.

"No, not the fight," says Cyrus. "I'm talking about the way TJ looked at me. And he basically got into a fight with his brother for me."

"What are you trying to say?" Buffy asks because she doesn't like where this is going.

"I think TJ likes me," Cyrus says while blushing.

"Are you feeling okay, Cyrus?" asks Buffy.

"Do you need to see a doctor?" Andi adds.

"What?" Cyrus is confused.

"You're clearly not thinking straight," says Buffy. There's an awkward stare between the three of them. Then Buffy continues. "You can't like TJ. He's a monster. Heartless."

"He cares about me," Cyrus says.

"TJ only cares about himself," says Buffy. "He's just using you. He will make you feel like you're somebody and then he will turn on you. And break you."

Andi then adds, "Besides, TJ has too much testosterone in him. He just likes to feel strong and masculine. He doesn't understand the meaning of the word 'love.'"

"I thought you guys would be happy for me," Cyrus whines.

"Well, we would if it were anybody else. But TJ?" Buffy says.

"We're just watching out for you," Andi explains. "We don't want you to get hurt. And wherever there's TJ, there's danger. TJ is dangerous."

"Dangerously hot," Cyrus says while blushing. Buffy and Andi look at him. So, he tries to brush it off, "Whaaat? Who said that?"

"Point is, just be careful," Buffy says.

Cyrus takes out his phone and says, "I wasn't gonna tell you this, but I think TJ is the secret admirer who has been messaging me on FacePage."

"You have a secret admirer?" asks Andi excitedly.

"And you didn't tell us?" Buffy asks.

"Ooh! I can't wait to meet him," Andi adds. She then starts singing, _"Cyrus has a boy crush!"_

Buffy joins in, _"Cyrus has a boy crush! Cyrus has a boy crush!"_

"Stop it!" Cyrus says with a smile as he tries to cover Andi and Buffy's mouths to stop them from singing. "You're embarrassing me."

"I still can't believe you never told us about your crush," Andi says.

"Yeah, why didn't you tell us?" Buffy asks, putting on a serious face.

"Because I knew you would act like this," Cyrus explains.

"He's not wrong," Buffy tells Andi.

"Plus, if I told you I was talking to someone anonymous, you would go all protective moms on me." Cyrus says and waits for reaction from Buffy and Andi. Before they can respond, he continues, "Oh and before you say anything, it's not on my irl account."

"You mean the chocochipmuffin13 account?" Andi asks.

"So, he doesn't even know it's you?," says Andi.

"Yeah, it lets me express myself without having to face the judgment if I came out in real life." Cyrus says then pauses for a few seconds. "You know, until I'm ready to come out to everyone."

"It really sucks how people can be so judgmental," says Buffy.

Andi nods and then tries to lighten the mood, "We still have to see the messages, though, right?"

"Obviously!" Buffy says and reaches in for Cyrus' phone. She opens the app and quickly notices the secret admirer messages. Andi leans in to read the messages with Buffy.

"Oooh cutepuppy1000," Andi says referring to the secret admirer's username. "He sounds cute." She and Buffy start giggling as they read through.

"Isn't this invasion of privacy?" Cyrus asks but Buffy and Andi ignore him. "Does anyone actually care about what I have to say?"

"Shhh!" Andi and Buffy respond in unison. They continue reading the cute messages between Cyrus and this mysterious boy.

While reading through the messages, Buffy and Andi are intrigued by cutepuppy1000. The secret admirer seems to be great at poetry because some of the messages he sends to Cyrus are cute poems. Either that, or he copy-pastes romantic song lyrics. They laugh at his funny jokes and pick up lines while also making fun of Cyrus' cheesy jokes.

"Oooh! He's good," Buffy exclaims while reading through one of the romantic poems.

"I wonder who this could be," Andi says.

"And I hope it stays that way," Cyrus responds.

"Why?" asks Andi. "Don't you ever want to know who it is? Are you going to live in mystery forever?"

"Cyrus Goodman likes a good mystery," Cyrus says, referring to himself in the third person. "Besides, what if I told them who I were and they didn't like me in real life? What then?"

"He laughs at your horrible cheesy jokes, no offense," Buffy says. "So, I'm sure he would put up with you in real life."

"And if they don't like you in real life, then they don't deserve you at all," Andi says.

"Maybe, we could figure out who he is first and then we can tell if he's worth it," Buffy suggests.

"Any ideas where to start?" Andi asks.

"We can come up with a list of potential candidates," Buffy suggests. She turns to Cyrus and asks, "Do you know anything about him? Like where he lives?"

"All I know is that he goes to Jefferson."

"Okay that's a start," says Buffy.

"You don't think it could be..." Cyrus says before being abruptly interrupted.

"Jonah Beck!" Andi and Buffy say at the same time.

"Really? Just when I got over him?" Cyrus wonders.

"Should we still consider that it might be TJ?" asks Buffy.

"I don't know," Cyrus responds. "I mean, he likes talking to me. Why would anyone even put up with me?"

"You don't know this, but you're a very likeable person, Cyrus Goodman," Buffy says while rubbing on Cyrus' hair.

"Okay, so TJ is a potential candidate, who else?" says Andi.

"It's probably someone we already know," says Buffy. "If he can handle Cyrus online and like him, he probably know him in real life too."

"Has any other boy shown interest in you?"

"Interest is a strong word," Cyrus says. "You don't know this, but I don't talk to a lot of boys."

"Even better!" Buffy says with excitement but gets stern looks from both Andi and Cyrus. "What I mean is, it makes our work easier. There's only a small pool of candidates!"

"Well, TJ and Jonah obviously," Cyrus starts. "And then there's... oh Walker."

"Adding Walker to the list," Andi says. "Oh wait, Walker doesn't go to Jefferson."

"Good point," Buffy notes. "And besides, what are the chances that we all have a crush on Walker?" Buffy jokes. She realizes that Andi is not ready to laugh about it. "Too soon?"

"Too soon!" Cyrus says before continuing.

Andi ignores them and says, "Oh and then there's Marty."

"Marty from the party?" Buffy says before a sad silence. "Anyway, there's no way it's Marty. He was so quick to move on to another girl when I broke up with him."

"Technically, it wasn't a break up since you weren't going out with him," Cyrus says.

"He was so into me," Buffy argues. "But sure, let's add him to the list."

"Anyone else?" asks Andi.

"Oh and there's Gus," Cyrus says. "And there's also... yeah, I got nothing. That's it. That's all."

"Alright, we can work with that," Buffy takes charge. "Divide and conquer. Andi, you take Jonah. Cyrus you're with TJ. And I guess that leaves me with Gus and Marty from the party."

"What exactly are we going to say to them?" asks Andi.

"You're just going to talk to them without being obvious, just to see if they can open up about liking another boy. You can also casually mention chocochipmuffin13 or cutepuppy1000... just to see their reaction."

"Sounds easy enough."

"I'm still not sure I like this plan," Cyrus complains.

"Okay, let's meet up tomorrow night at the Andi Shack," Andi suggests.


	3. Good Hair Detectives

**Friday Lunch Time. At the school hallway.**

Buffy knows that Marty can't possibly be Cyrus' secret admirer, cutepuppy1000. But she wants to go interrogate him anyway. Not because it will amount to anything, but because she misses talking to him. She misses him. She had him and then she lost him.

She finds Marty tying his shoelaces by his locker. She says, "Don't worry, I'm not here to steal your shoes. Or your pink shoelaces."

"Oh! if it isn't The Slayer," Marty responds.

"If it isn't Eleven Point Five," Buffy plays along.

"Are you ever gonna forget that?"

"Nope."

"Don't you have some vampires to slay or something?" Marty asks, standing up.

"I do. That's why I'm here... to slay you," Buffy says. "Does your girlfriend know that you're a vampire?"

"If this is your attempt of trying to win me back, it's too late for that."

"I am NOT trying to win you back," Buffy says, not convincing anyone. "I do NOT have a crush on you. Why would I have a crush on you?"

"Because I am irresistible," Marty says with a smirk on his face.

"I am the irresistible one," Buffy protests moving closer and closer to Marty.

"Says the slayer after I resisted her," Marty brags. "I'm the one with a girlfriend, and you don't. And I'm a great kisser too."

"No, I am a better kisser than you," Buffy fights back, showing her classic competitive side. "I'm the best kisser in the universe."

"You wish."

"So, how many people have you kissed?" Buffy asks.

"No one," Marty admits. "You?"

"No one," Buffy responds calmly. They both smile. Buffy then continues, "But I bet I'm still better than you."

"Do you want to prove it, Slayer?" Marty asks as he moves even closer to Buffy.

"Oh bring it on!" Buffy dares Marty while looking straight into his eyes. They're so close to one another, they can feel each other's breaths on their eyebrows.

Buffy and Marty are frozen in what feels like a lifetime. They know how they're both feeling for each other but they just don't have the guts to go for it.

This intense moment is interrupted when the two notice Marty's girlfriend approaching. "Bye Marty from the party," Buffy says.

"Bye slayer," Marty weakly waves Buffy goodbye.

It goes without saying that Buffy fails in her mission to ask if Marty was Cyrus' secret admirer. But she's fine with her choice.

* * *

 **Friday After School. TJ's Gym.**

That day after school, Cyrus goes to the gym where TJ works so that he can try to figure out if he's his secret crush. He doesn't know why but he really wants TJ to be the one. Sure, Andi and Buffy probably won't approve of TJ but he would rather engage in a forbidden love. But there's only one way to find out.

Cyrus walks into the gym. There are a bunch of kids but TJ is nowhere to be seen.

"Where is TJ?" Cyrus asks the kids.

"He went that way," one of the kids points him a door. Cyrus starts walking towards the door.

"He is with someone," another kid says. "He asked not to be disturbed."

After opening the door, Cyrus overhears two people whispering. He can't exactly hear what they're talking about. He gets closer and sees TJ and Amber standing too close to each other. 'It can't be,' Cyrus thinks to himself.

TJ reaches in his pocket and gives Amber something. He then leans in to hug Amber. Cyrus can't take it. He doesn't want to see what happens next. So, he turns away quickly and leaves without talking.

"Is TJ coming back?" one of the kids asks Cyrus as he walks past them. The kid continues, "Is he still making out with his girlfriend?"

Cyrus doesn't respond or even look at the kids. He is too much consumed by his own thoughts. Cyrus really hoped TJ would be the one. But now, it looks like TJ is in love with Amber.

This must be the real reason TJ and his brother, Kip were fighting. It was never about him. It was always about Amber. That must be what Amber meant when she said she had eyes for someone else.

* * *

 **At The Red Rooster Records.**

Andi's target is Jonah Beck, one of their top suspects. So, she can't afford to blow this like Buffy did with Marty. Andi wants to bring up the subject of gay couples in order to ease into the subject. Once she makes it clear to Jonah that she embraces everyone's sexuality, maybe Jonah will feel free to open up to her.

Jonah is at Bowie's music store checking out some guitar straps. Andi walks in and says, "Hey Jonah."

"Hey Andiman," Jonah greets her back.

Andi starts helping Jonah look for guitar straps while planning on how to initiate the conversation about gay couples without being obvious. She remembers one of her favorite couples, Willow and Tara from _Buffy the Vampire Slayer._

"Okay, so, have you seen the show, Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"

"Everybody has seen Buffy," Jonah says.

"Remember Willow and Tara?"

"Yes, they were like the best friends ever," Jonah says.

Andi is surprised that Jonah thinks the witches were just friends." "Willow and Tara weren't just friends, Jonah," Andi explains. "They liked each other."

"Of course all friends like each other," Jonah says.

"No, I mean they like-liked each other," Andi explains further. "They were lovers."

"Cool," Jonah responds casually.

"Like even though they were the same gender, they were in love with one another. And that is totally okay," Andi says but Jonah seems too absent-minded. "Do you get where I'm going with this?"

"Yes."

"Oh I'm glad we're on the same page," Andi says, feeling relieved.

"Of course," Jonah says. "You like Libby."

"What?" Andi is shocked. "I mean... wait, what?"

"I saw the way you two were looking at each other. She clearly likes you too."

"Really?" Andi says with a smile on her face. "She likes me? What did she say?" Andi then realizes she's getting off track. "No, that's not what I meant."

"It's okay," Jonah says while patting Andi on the shoulder. "You can ask her out. I don't think I deserve her anyway."

"No, you have it all wrong."

"Nice chat, Andiman," a confused Jonah says before walking out of the store.

"Jonah?" Andi calls out. She is more confused than ever before. She didn't get to ask Jonah about the secret account and now she's accidentally sent him the wrong message. "What just happened?" she asks herself.

* * *

 **At the Frisbee Field in School.**

After failing to get anything out of Marty, Buffy still has a chance with her last target. Gus. She finds Gus sitting on a bench during a Space Otters basketball game.

"Hello Gus."

"Bye," Gus says and then runs away. Buffy has no idea why Gus is avoiding her. So, she runs after him.

"Gus stop!" Buffy calls out.

"No!"

Buffy then starts running after him. A few feet later, she asks, "Why are you running?"

"Because you're chasing me," Gus says sounding scared.

"No, I'm not. I literally just said 'hello' and then you started running!"

Gus doesn't stop. He runs all the way into the boys' bathroom where he thinks he's safe from Buffy. He's wrong. Buffy barges in through the boy's bathroom door. She scares the three boys peeing in the urinals.

"This is the boys' bathroom, Buffy!" one of the boys tells Buffy.

"I know," Buffy then sniffs her nose because of the disgusting smell. "It stinks. Where's Gus?" She asks. The boy points her to the bathroom stall where Gus is.

Buffy walks closer and knocks the bathroom door. "I know you're in there, Gus. Look, I just want to talk. Why are you running away from me?"

"Because you scare me," Gus responds from the stall.

"Why?"

"It's about the chocolate muffin, isn't it?"

"Wait, so _it is_ you?" Buffy says in shock. She can't believe it would have been Gus.

"Please don't kill me," Gus says in a scared voice.

"Why would I kill you?"

"Because I ate your chocolate muffin?"

"What?" Buffy is confused. "No. Wait, that's what you were talking about?"

"Yeah, what _were you_ talking about?"

"Nevermind," Buffy says, realizing that it was just a false alarm. He's can't possibly be Cyrus' secret admirer.

As Buffy leaves the bathroom, all the boys awkwardly stare at her.

"What you looking at?" She asks one of the boys. The boy is so intimidated that he pees his pants.

Oh well.

* * *

 **Friday Evening. Andi Shack.**

At the end of the day, The Good Hair Crew meets at the Andi Shack as planned. Unfortunately, they're nowhere closer to figuring out who cutepuppy1000 is.

"I know at first I didn't like the idea, but it gave me hope I might finally get a real boyfriend," Cyrus complains.

"Sorry, we let you down," Andi says.

"I was really hoping it could have been TJ but apparently he's with Amber now," Cyrus says in a resigned tone.

"Amber can do so much better," Andi says. "I mean what does TJ have that I don't have?"

"What?" Buffy and Cyrus ask in unison.

"What?" Andi asks back, pretending that she has no idea what they were asking.

"I'm just glad it wasn't TJ," Buffy says before noticing Cyrus is not ready for a joke. "So, baby taters on us?" Buffy asks, smiling.

"Baby taters can't heal my broken heart," Cyrus responds.

"Look on the bright side, you still have your secret admirer," Andi says.

"He is still out there and still likes you," Buffy adds. "You just have to trust your heart."

"Trust. That's it," Cyrus says. "I have to gain his trust. And how can I gain his trust if I'm not being honest with him. I know what I'm gonna do. I'm going to tell him who I am."

"Cyrus, are you sure about this?" Andi asks.

"Yes, I am," Cyrus says in confidence. "If I'm going to find love, I have to put myself out there."

Cyrus then takes out his phone. He takes a cute selfie of himself and sends it to the secret admirer, with the caption, _'Love, Cyrus.'_

He then nervously waits for a response back. Suddenly the phone beeps. It's a new message: _'I knew it.'_ The message is a little cryptic than usual. And there are no emojis at all. It sounds odd but then again, he did just drop a bombshell.

' _So, will you tell me who you are?'_ Cyrus messages back after a few minutes.

Dead silence. There is no response from the other side. He becomes more nervous. This leads to a restless, sleepless night for Cyrus.


	4. Blackmail

**Saturday Afternoon.**

The next day, Cyrus is going to meet up with Andi and Buffy at The Spoon when he finds Kip and his friends standing outside the diner. Kip walks to Cyrus, making him nervous.

"I know your secret," Kip whispers, causing Cyrus to start shaking.

"Which one? I have a lot of secrets," Cyrus says hoping to avoid the subject. "You know what they call me, the-boy-with-a-lot-of-secrets."

"They call you that? Or should I say, chocochipmuffin13, _"_ Kip says referring to Cyrus' username on FacePage.

"You're cutepuppy1000?" Cyrus asks.

"No," Kip says. "Ew! Gross." He takes a spit.

"So, how do you know...?"

"Oh I know a lot of things, Cyrus," Kip brags. "I know who your secret admirer is. And soon the entire world is gonna know about you and him too," Kip threatens.

"Please don't!" begs Cyrus. "I will do anything. Please just don't."

"Blackmail is such an ugly word," Kip says.

"Who said anything about blackmail?"

"I did," says Kip. " I literally, just said it. And now, you're gonna do whatever I ask you or else..."

"What do you want?" a scared Cyrus asks. "I hope it's not something illegal. I can't afford to go to jail."

"Oh you know what I want," Kip says then feels the need to clarify himself. "I need you to hook me up with your friend, Amber."

"But Amber..."

"Non-negotiable!" Kip shouts. He then talks in an intimidating voice. "You either set me up with Amber or the world finds out about you. I wonder how the parents and teachers would react if they found out about your little hobby. Most of them are not as open minded as you would think. It would be a shame if you got kicked out of the school and didn't get to go to your precious Ivy League colleges."

"You know about my Ivy League dreams?"

"I do my research," Kip says. "Now, go do your part and get me with Amber. I don't care if she's dating someone else. She listens to you. You have until the end of the day."

Cyrus starts crying, "Please don't make me..."

"Now leave!" Kip shouts in a very intimidating voice. Cyrus runs for a few feet and then wipes his tears to look like everything is okay before entering The Spoon Diner.

After hearing about the incident, Buffy and Andi blame themselves for pushing Cyrus to reveal who he was to some random account. Above all, they are very upset with Kip.

"So, are you gonna do it?" Andi asks Cyrus.

"I don't know," Cyrus replies.

"You can't give into Kip's blackmail," Buffy says. "Sure, Amber may not be the best person out there, but she deserves better than this jerk. You can't submit to a bully."

"So, what are we gonna do?"

"I'm gonna have _a 'talk'_ with that jerk," Buffy says angrily.

"No, please don't," Cyrus begs. "If you get involved, you will only make things worse like you do when you go _all Buffy_ on someone."

"What other choice do we have?" Buffy asks.

"I will," Cyrus says to Andi and Buffy's surprise. "I need to be able to stand up for myself."

"What exactly are you planning to do?" Andi asks.

"Nothing," says Cyrus. "He said I have until the end of the day to update him on the Amber status. I'll just do nothing."

"Whatever happens, we'll be right here," Buffy comforts Cyrus.

Cyrus may have been courageous enough to not give into blackmail. But he had no idea what was waiting for him.

* * *

 **Monday morning. Jefferson Middle School**

It's Monday morning and Cyrus hasn't heard anything from Kip since Saturday despite not meeting his deadline. Perhaps Kip was just all talk. He feels a little relieved as he walks to school with Buffy and Andi.

As Andi, Buffy and Cyrus get in through the doors, everyone is whispering and looking at them. Specifically, they're looking at Cyrus. They know something is definitely wrong.

"What is it?" Cyrus asks. "Do I have something on my hair? Did a bird poop on my hair again?"

Before Andi and Buffy can react to Cyrus' comment about bird poop, Andi's eyes are caught by some posters on the wall. "Oh no," she says.

"What?" Buffy asks before noticing them too.

They're images of Cyrus alongside screenshots of the messages he was exchanging with the cutepuppy1000 account. The posters are filled with homophobic slur as they expose Cyrus as gay to the entire school. They can't believe someone would do such a thing.

Cyrus faints.

He is quickly taken to the school nurse. The nurse says that Cyrus had a panic attack. He's going to be fine. Andi and Buffy stay with Cyrus until he recovers. About ten minutes later, Cyrus fully regains consciousness. The girls hug him. The nurse leaves them to catch up with their friend.

"Don't scare us like that," Andi says.

"That Kip jerk has messed with the wrong slayer," Buffy says because they all know it was Kip who made the posters. "I'm gonna kill him."

"What's the use?" Cyrus cries. "The damage is already done. I'm finished, Buffy."

Meanwhile, back on the hallway, TJ leads the other students to quickly take the posters down. He tries to convince them that it was an elaborate prank that didn't mean anything. Once all the posters are taken down, TJ goes to the nurse's office to check in on Cyrus.

He puts his hand by Cyrus's head and says, "I am so sorry, Cyrus, you don't deserve any of this."

"Thanks, TJ."

"I can't believe my brother would stoop this low," TJ says. "I mean, I know he's a jerk but..."

"Wait," Cyrus interrupts. "You know Kip did this?"

"How do you know?" Buffy asks raising eyebrows as if she's ready to hit TJ. "Unless you helped him do it..."

"Because," TJ says and pauses. He then continues, "he stole my phone."

"Your phone?" Cyrus asks.

"If that was your phone," Andi says, "then that means you're - "

"cutepuppy1000?" Cyrus interrupts.

"In the flesh!" TJ confirms with a smile on his face.

"I knew it!" Cyrus says!

"Hold on, that still doesn't explain you and Amber at the gym," Buffy says.

"You saw that?" TJ asks Buffy.

"No, I did," Cyrus responds.

"Oh, you got it all wrong," TJ explains. "Amber had come to complain to me about Kip stalking him. She wanted my help. As a friend."

"Ohh," Cyrus says then smiles.

"Wait, is that why you haven't talked to me all weekend? You thought I liked Amber?"

"Yeah?"

"My love belongs to only one person," TJ says, sitting on the bed where Cyrus is lying. "And that is you, chocochipmuffin13."

"Really?" Cyrus asks.

TJ then looks at Cyrus and closes his eyes. Cyrus closes his eyes too. TJ leans in and they both share a passionate kiss. They wish they could be stuck in this moment for life.

"Awww," Buffy and Andi say in unison, interrupting the kiss.

"I love you, Not-So-Scary Basketball Guy," says Cyrus.

"And I love you my Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffin," TJ says.

Cyrus and TJ signal Andi and Buffy to leave the room so that they can have a private moment.

THE. END... OR IS IT?


End file.
